Delhi Daredevils beat Deccan Chargers!

Tillakaratne Dilshan led Delhi Daredevils to an emphatic six-wicket victory against Deccan Chargers in the 21st match of the second edition of the Indian Premier League at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Thursday.

Dilshan hit an unbeaten 52 off 46 balls studded with 3 sixes and 4 fours as Delhi achieved the 149-run victory target with 8 deliveries to spare.

Dirk Nannes was adjudged the Man of the Match for his bowling figures of 2/16.

Delhi were in trouble at 49/3 but a 79-run partnership between Dilshan and Dinesh Karthik for the fourth wicket ensured that Deccan lost their first match of the tournament.

Karthik hit a six and 3 fours in his 41-run knock that came off 30 deliveries before he was trapped plumb in front of the wicket by Pragyan Ojha.

Delhi Daredevils were 70/3 in 10 overs.

Delhi lost their captain Virender Sehwag for 20 in the fourth over when he was caught at backward point by Herschelle Gibbs off RP Singh.

Shoaib Ahmed then dismissed AB de Villiers and Gautam Gambhir in his consecutive overs to reduce Delhi to 49/3.

de Villiers (5) hit to long off for Pragyan Ojha to take the catch, while Gambhir (17) was trapped plumb in front of the wicket while trying to chip over short fine leg.

Earlier, Deccan Chargers scored 148/9 in 20 overs.

Dwayne Smith top scored for Deccan with a 28-ball 48 that was studded with 2 sixes and 5 fours.

It was Smith’s 65-run partnership with Tirumalsetti Suman that took Deccan to a respectable total as they came together at the crease when their team was reeling at 53/4.

Suman, playing his first IPL match, in place of former captain VVS Laxman, played well to hit a 23-run knock that came off 14 balls with the help of a six and a four.

For Delhi, Dirk Nannes and Ashish Nehra took 2 wickets each.

Deccan Chargers were struggling at 55/4 in 10 overs.

Put in to bat by Virender Sehwag, Deccan Chargers got off to a poor start as they lost captain Adam Gilchrist in the first over by Dirk Nannes. Gilchrist, who hit two fours in his 8-run knock, was late in the short delivery and edged high up in the air for Dinesh Karthik to take the catch.

Nannes struck again in his next over when he had Herschelle Gibbs (0) caught at mid-off by AB de Villiers.

Rohit Sharma and Azhar Bilakhia added 33 runs for the third wicket before Rohit (17) hit a straighter delivery by Amit Mishra over the covers for Mithun Manhas to take the catch.

In the next over, Bilakhia (22) was trapped plumb in front of the wicket by a straighter delivery from Daniel Vettori.

Teams:

Delhi Daredevils: Virender Sehwag (Capt.), Gautam Gambhir, Tillakaratne Dilshan, AB de Villiers, Dinesh Karthik, Mithun Manhas, Daniel Vettori, Amit Mishra, Pradeep Sangwan, Ashish Nehra, Dirk Nannes.

Deccan Chargers: Adam Gilchrist (Capt.), Herschelle Gibbs, Tirumalsetti Suman, Dwayne Smith, Rohit Sharma, Azhar Bilakhia, Venugopal Rao, RP Singh, Pragyan Ojha, Fidel Edwards, Shoaib Ahmed.